Category: Self-Belief

I am a big fan of Stoic philosophy. It is often misunderstood, but lessons from ancient Stoics like Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus or more modern ones like Admiral James Stockdale and Tim Ferriss demonstrate that Stoicism offers a set of practical rules and principles in how to deal effectively with the challenges that life...

Confidence is like a balloon, when it’s full we can float through challenges and difficult situations with poise and effective performance, but what happens if the balloon bursts? Possessing high self-confidence is an essential part of good performance and anyone who takes their performance seriously will be on the look out for ways to...

Success is a very sought after thing. It has been examined, debated and philosophised over because to master the ability to be successful is a phenomenal skill to possess. One of the first challenges we face when considering success, is what exactly is it? There are so many different definitions that is easy to...

“Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me” is a mantra that we’ve been encouraged to use from childhood when we’re on the wrong end of some name calling. After all, it’s only name calling. It can’t really hurt us, can it? Well, some new research has revealed that...

Confidence is like a balloon, when it’s full you can float through a challenge with skill and poise but what happens if the balloon pops? When our level of confidence drops the cause is usually self-inflicted. There are a number of reasons we allow ourselves to lose confidence; setting ourselves unrealistic expectations, failing to...

There are many important elements that contribute to a person’s performance but without drive or motivation the chances of success, especially in a competitive or challenging situation, will be seriously impacted. Unfortunately it is very easy for people to lose the passion that fuels and drives a person to succeed. If that happens the...

Many things have been written and said about the importance of being allowed to make mistakes. It is commonly believed that you learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes. We’re all familiar with stories from notable high achievers like Thomas Edison, Michael Jordan and Steve Jobs about how their mistakes...

Many people want to increase their self-control so that they can achieve more success, complete more goals or avoid certain bad habits. The good news for th0se people is that recent research from neuroscience suggests that boosting self-control could be as simple as looking at a picture of yourself or your reflection in a...

Between 1942 and 1945, the Austrian psychiatrist Vicktor Frankl spent time in four different Nazi concentration camps. The experience was every bit as horrible as you’d imagine. His family was killed, he suffered terribly, and he spent years watching everyone around him suffering and dying. But he survived and out of his experience came...

The link between the mind and the body is very powerful. We only have to observe someone’s body language to know what sort of mood they’re in. But does it work in reverse? Can the body change the mind? There’s a theory called ‘Embodied Cognition’ that says it can. Quite simply, if you want...